This thread has dropped a few too many stitches. [Or added too many, might be more accurate.] Natheless:

Back to the original question and ignoring the rants about the Crimean war, Napoleon, etc., etc., etc., which belong elsewhere:

First, the story: I think it's pretty evident that the INTENDED meaning was to tell the story [perhaps an actual event] of one 'Dainty' Davy [possibly an actual person. The story about the minister is a good one, and fits the context, to an extent at least. It seems probable that the appellation 'Dainty' was thrown in for alliterative purposes primarily, rather than as a physical or social description] who was fleeing pursuit by a company of armed men. For reasons best left to fertile imaginations, the lady of the house decides to help him. She does this by employing a rather surprising and unconventional ruse. She hides Davy in the bed beside her physically mature daughter! Whether the mother intended or expected the consequences is moot. If she did not, she was either 1] hopelessly naive or ignorant about what to expect, 2] even more naive or ignorant in believing that Davy being a religious man would preclude the not unexpected [by anyone other than the mother!] consequence, or 3] it was a conscious plan of the mother to get the daughter off her hands. [Whether because the daughter was becoming a royal pain in her nether regions, or because she feared that the girl was never going to find a husband, is not entirely clear]. Either way it would free her of responsibilities that she wished to transfer to another. Apparently, the daughter was cooperative in the event [the desire to end this particular mother-daughter relationship appears, perhaps, to have been mutual] and after the predictable consequences she and Davy married and lived happily [more or less] ever after.

Definition of terms: The 'curly pow' refers to a curly head. The name Dainty Davy is used by the song's author [Burns, probably, in the best known version, is used in reference to both the man tucked into the girl's bed and, also in an attempt to lighten the mood of the song, to a rather obvious portion of his anatomy. The girl's 'thees' or 'thies' are thighs, the upper portion of her legs [or limbs]. The 'gravy" reference should be evident to anyone, and most especially to Mudcatters. There, most evidently, were cherry trees on the estate, but it seems likely that 'Cherry Trees' was also the name by which the property was known. [When the words Cherry Trees are capitalized in the lyrics, it is the latter.] Military units known as 'dragoons' date back to the 1500s. They began as mounted infantry, not true cavalry. Later they might be designated as either 'light' or 'heavy' dragoons and still later became true cavalry. Burns lived in the late 1700s, and Davy's pursuers were almost undoubtedly 'light dragoons' who's primary duties were related to reconnaisance and skirmishing.

There you have the definitive [according to Reiver 2] explanation of what is happening in this fine song. That's the way I interpret it. If you don't agree, you're welcome to keep your own incorrect interpretation. Can we let it go now?? Forget that last statement, I know better. After all, this IS the Mudcat Forum!

Reiver 2